Hiring reliable workers and giving them the training and company buy-in to keep them is the focus of a Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association-sponsored symposium on Wednesday.
The Chamber has invited Patrick McGaughey, president and chief consultant for ActivatingPeople.com, to lead the interactive session — “Excellence in the Workplace: Train the Trainer” — geared toward business owners, managers, supervisors and trainers.
“The GSCRA has worked with Pat before, and he has always received the highest possible reviews from attendees,” according to a Chamber news release about the event — taking place 8:30-11:30 a.m. Wednesday at Morgridge Commons above the Glenwood Springs Library.
In a phone interview Monday, McGaughey said his talk is as much geared to workers themselves, as their bosses. In fact, much of his material comes from audience participation, including employees who have shared what works for them, he said.
“Recruiting and keeping employees is the big focus for a lot of businesses right now, and everybody is trying to redesign themselves around that,” McGaughey said.
He calls his approach to helping businesses inspire their workers, “the physics of performance.”
“I see the hiring process from a different perspective, where you hire and work to keep the people who inspire you,” McGaughey said.
Many of the business owners and managers who participate in his seminars, including the one in Glenwood, send their employees to share what they find interesting about their workplace experience.
“A lot of what I’m teaching the owners and managers and supervisors comes straight from the employees’ point of view,” he said.
Much of it comes down to good communication and one word, “understanding,” McGaughey said.
“If we don’t understand, then we have not yet communicated,” he said.
The symposium also focuses on nurturing one type of employee in particular, “performers,” who do everything they can to succeed and inspire others to succeed as well; while re-engaging or moving on from “occupiers,” those who’ve become unmotivated and indifferent; and being on guard for the “wreckers,” who can actually hurt a business organization.
“Most businesses have employees and team members who already perform at a high level, but many also have people who have become occupiers or worse,” the Chamber notes in its description of the Wednesday symposium. “The question becomes, ‘How in the world do we build a team of performers with everyone?’”
The symposium is designed to provide strategies for employees to become self-inspired and for managers/supervisors to create an evaluation process that builds upon that inspiration, according to the release.
“Teaching the art of simple, polite business conversations is also included, as well as skills in dealing with difficult customers.”
McGaughey said that, in addition to the Chamber-sponsored event, he also offers follow-up programs for individual business participants.
